[aprssig] Did ICOM DSTAR ever take off ? can it be used for APRS ?

[tvsjr]

D-STAR actually has some advantages when you compare it side-by-side. I've
used D-STAR quite a bit, and have any number of P25 radios as well, so I
guess I'm qualified to compare.

P25 doesn't have any provisions for high-speed data, which the 1.2GHz D-STAR
system does (of course, it's not cheap). This is one of the coolest parts of
D-STAR, IMO.

The 2m/440 D-STAR system (digital voice + low-speed data) is roughly
comparable with ASTRO/P25, but the ID-800 is in the $600 range and the
cheapest P25 radios (new, anyway) start out around $1.5K and go up.

My main gripe about D-STAR is the quality of the digital voice. Although
they're using a better codec (AMBE vs. IMBE), the data rate on the air
interface is only half of P25. It's still quite usable, but, it's obvious
that you're using a digital radio (the latest DSP versions in the Motorola
P25 portables sound really good... you can barely tell that you're running
P25).

Terry/N5RSE

-----Original Message-----
From: aprssig-bounces at lists.tapr.org [mailto:aprssig-bounces at lists.tapr.org]
On Behalf Of John Gleichweit
Sent: Wednesday, June 22, 2005 7:57 AM
To: k4gps at arrl.net; TAPR APRS Mailing List
Subject: Re: [aprssig] Did ICOM DSTAR ever take off ? can it be used for
APRS ?

On Tue, 21 Jun 2005 16:44:37 -0400, "Rich Garcia"
<k4gps at bellsouth.net> wrote:

>I loved the idea of the D-Star till' I saw the price of just 1. My idea was
>for last mile Internet to the repeater site since 1.2 would work but 2.4
>WiFi is
>pushing the path a bit. If they ever get the mobiles down to the $500 range
>I think they got a winner but the last price I saw was somewhere near
>$1200!!
>
>Rich

Which brings up another point where digital radio is concerned: Why go
D-Star when you can get a tried and proven standard like P-25 digital
for voice, and pay roughly the same amount, and get analog and digital
approved on commercial frequencies (when needed).

The concept of a D-Star WWAN is great, but the problem is in the cost
of equipment. 

-- 
John "Smokey Behr" Gleichweit FF1/EMT, CCNA, MCSE
IPN-CAL023 N6FOG UP Fresno Sub MP183.5 ECV1852
List Owner x6, Moderator x4 CA-OES 51-507


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